The Night the Bat Reigned

Some of you may have seen from our Facebook statuses that we had a bit of an incident this week. For the sake of recording personal histories...

I (Elena) came home from working at the diner at about 3pm on Tuesday. I came in, glad to be home, took off my work shirt, went to the bathroom, left my buckle undone as I made my way back to the bedroom to change into civilian clothes. BUT as I came into the kitchen from the bathroom a BAT came swooping through and hung itself by its claws on the curtain rail. I, naturally started screaming, and ran from to the bedroom (doing up my pants--why I was worried about my the bat in pants, I don't know. I wasn't logical at that point). I called Michael--aware that he was completely powerless to help me from his office in Northfield--but not knowing what else to do. He told me to find the phone book and call Animal Control, and I searched for the phone book only to encounter the bat again, flying circles through all the rooms. Since I was screaming again, we decided to call my uncle instead. That conversation went like this:

Ring Ring
Tio: Alo?
Me: Hola, Tio.
Tio: Hey you. What's going on, what's new?
Me: (trying to keep calm) Uh...well, I have a problem I was hoping you could help me with.
Tio: Yeah, what's up?
Me: There's a bat in my house and I need help getting out.
Tio: Well, can't you get it?
Me: (trying not to cry) Uh...well, I'm scared and it's gross.
Tio: Well...okay, we're coming. We're coming.

Then I realized that I had locked the door and that unless I made my way out, they we're going to be able to come in. So while the bat is circling, I grab the standing mirror (it's plastic and not attached to the wall like it's supposed to be) and use it like a shield to get outside.

I make it to the door, I unlock it, I go outside and breathe deeply for the first time. Feeling a little bit more in control of the situation, I decide to go back inside and look for the broom. I'm tip-toeing like a teenager trying to sneak out the house through my own house, hoping to see the bat but not rouse the bat. I get the broom and go back outside without sighting the bat.

My uncle, my aunt, and my cousin show up and bang on all the furniture and shake all the curtains, but no bat ever appears. He convinces me that the bat must have flown out while I was getting the broom. I give up and let them go, but still feel paranoid, so I change into some shorts, gather up my laptop and some books and go to dunkin donuts for a while. I go back to my uncle's house and hang out with my cousin until Michael gets off work.

When Michael gets home, he searches the house to no avail. We leave to do some shopping and return fairly late. We go to bed exhausted, turn of the light, and start talking through some loose ends from the day. Suddenly,

scratch scratch scratch

Michael and I stop short, look at each other. I duck under the covers, he puts his glasses back on and turns on the light. No bat. I dash outside in my night clothes (little shorts and a tank top) and Michael gets the flashlight and broom. He searches behind the dresser but can't find anything. We go back to sleep, this time Michael on the dresser side and with the light on. "The bat won't come out if the light is on," we say.

At about 3:00am, I wake up and roll over. Michael wakes up, too. The light keeps us from getting into deep sleep. At the exact moment that Michael looks at me...

scratch scratch scratch

I look over at the dresser and see the bat crawling out from behind the mirror. I scream. Michael can't see anything and his glasses are next to the bat. I dash outside and Michael runs to put his contacts in. He comes back to the room--no bat.

He starts poking around with the broom again and suddenly the bat comes flying out of nowhere. Now, Michael gets entrenched in a battle that lasts forty minutes to catch the bat inside a box and free it to the outside world.

When that moment came, Michael was so pumped full of adrenaline and so covered in his own sweat that going back to sleep--to wake up an hour later for work--was quite impossible. Needless to say Wednesday was not one of our most productive days.

But that's the story of the Night the Bat Reigned.